State Of Shock
by klutzysunshine
Summary: Poppy's pregnancy was unplanned and a shock. Once the baby's born, it takes them over a week to figure out her name.


Poppy and Douglas hadn't expected her pregnancy to begin with so they were in a state of shock about the baby for a few months. Excitement took over eventually but they couldn't figure out a name for their little girl - and eight days after her birth, she still didn't have a name. They needed to file the birth certificate, however, so time was running out. "Do you have any suggestions?" Poppy asked the kids.

"Amelia!" whispered an excited Amy, careful not to wake her newborn sibling.

Poppy laughed. "Nice try, kid, but no dice. Rory? Emma? How about you two - any ideas from the peanut gallery?"

"Maybe you can name her after yourself. Men do it all the time," Rory pointed out, and his logic was so sound she nearly agreed to it.

"Sorry, bud, but no nicknames - unless we call her by her middle name. And we don't even have that yet. Emma?"

"Justice," Emma suggested a few minutes later after trying to figure it out.

"Nah, that's not her name."

"We could just let the others name her like they wanted." Ready to throw in the towel because he was so desperate at this point, Douglas wouldn't mind if their friends named their daughter.

"We are not letting Miggy, Angie, and Will name our baby. Although they do keep throwing out interesting suggestions." She was thisclose to letting them name her at this point too but refused to admit it. She and Douglas could name their own damn baby.

Their currently nameless daughter opened her eyes and started crying so Poppy stood up and picked her up. She recognized it as the baby's hungry cry so she started feeding her. Meanwhile, Douglas just began throwing out random name ideas. "Elizabeth? Chelsea? Kelsey? Grace? Melinda? Piper? Phoebe? Paige? Prue?"

She squinted and stared at her husband. "Have you been watching _Charmed_ reruns again?"

He hesitated for a second. "Maybe…"

"That's a yes. We are not naming our daughter after fictional witches. Kick ass witches for sure but no." She laughed in amusement.

Douglas pouted for a second. "Can we suggest other fictional characters?" Emma asked hopefully.

"We are not naming her Elsa or Anna either before you say anything but go ahead," Poppy replied. The baby had fallen asleep so she set her back down in the bassinet.

"Genevieve seems beautiful," Rory said as he scrolled down through a list on a baby names website.

"She's not a Genevieve, although it's a beautiful name." Poppy just wanted to figure this out and it was bothering her they were still referring to the newborn as "the baby". She deserved to be called something. At this rate, they were never going to figure it out.

"Lorelai," chimed in Rory out of nowhere.

"Nice symmetry there, bud, but no again."

"You said we could suggest fictional characters!" he reminded her with a smirk before he looked back down at his phone.

"Meghan!" shouted Amy.

"I love it - we'll put the name on our short list," Poppy conceded. She doubted they'd use it but couldn't hurt to consider it.

"We're never going to figure this out," Douglas complained.

"We will." She checked in on the baby to make sure she was still sleeping and then sat back down on the couch, wrapping her arms around her husband.

The five of them peered in on the newborn to see if they could come up with something together. "She's so tiny," an awed Amy whispered. She and Emma weren't big fans of babies but they loved their sister anyway (except when she woke them up in the middle of the night and/or needed a diaper change).

"Virginia? Georgia? June?" Douglas didn't even know where he was going with this anymore.

Neither did the kids but something struck Poppy in that moment and she sighed in relief. "She's a Julie."

Douglas didn't even have to think about it - once Poppy said it, he knew right away that was the right choice. "That's it. How'd you think of Julie?"

Poppy shrugged. "I have no fucking clue."

"Language!" Rory scolded.

"Sorry, kids. Don't repeat what I say. But she's a Julie for sure."

"Julie Danielle Fogerty," added in Douglas. He picked up a tiny hand, making sure not to wake Julie, and kissed it. "Welcome to the world, baby girl. Glad you finally have a name."

"I'll tell the others!" Rory jumped right on it and bolted to his room, his stepsisters following.

Poppy scooped Julie out of the bassinet, thrilled when she didn't wake up, and grinned. "We have to file your birth certificate, little one, but I am so happy you're no longer calling you the baby. You like Julie?"

The baby didn't respond but her parents grinned anyway. Douglas kissed Poppy's temple. "She may have surprised the hell out of us but I definitely don't regret having Julie. I love you, Poppy. And our big, fucked up, weird family."

She snorted. "I love you and our weird family too, Douglas."

They filed Julie's birth certificate before the day was up and then allowed the others to come over for a visit so they could formally meet her. They were all excited she finally had a name and celebrated with a short pizza party. And Julie was Poppy and Douglas' last big shock for sure - four kids were enough for them and they didn't need another surprise baby, as much as they loved the one they had.


End file.
